It was like partnerships formed in the nineteenth century by fortune seekers rushing to streambeds and mountain sides of Colorado in a search for golden flakes or nuggets.

But this union had a twist. This was no wild, gold-panning proposition that might or might not succeed.

David Caffey, then 42, was virtually guaranteeing $25,000 in gems, gold and crystals to two men he met while working as a carpenter in Florida.

Family members recall the enthusiasm of one of the Caffey’s partners, Raymond Collins, 47. The carpenter, who had three deformed fingers and had worked for Quality Framing for nine years, was heading west to strike it rich and change his life.

Ray Collins, 57

For years, Collins had been travelling to different states including North Carolina and Arkansas hunting for gems. Collins, a twice-divorced father of three, had a small gem-stone polishing machine.

In 1986, Collins met Caffey, who worked for Desmon Construction, at a building site in Dundee, Fl., Caffey would later tell an insurance investigator.

They became friends almost from the first day they spoke about mining rubies in the Carolinas, he would say. He had already been planning a trip to Colorado and offered Collins a chance to come with him.

Caffey said he had paid $50,000 to lease a mining claim on Mt. Antero near Poncho Springs, Co., where the highest quality aquamarine had been found in the U.S.

Caffey told Collins that on previous trips he had found an abundance of aquamarine and gold nuggets, said Chaffee County investigator Andrew Rohrich.

Caffey’s brother-in-law, who lived in Denver, would later tell authorities that around 1983 he had accompanied Caffey on a gem-hunting trip to Mt. Antero. They searched for a few hours and when they didn’t find any aquamarine they drove back to Denver empty-handed.

Caffey predicted to Collins that over a three-month period of time they could expect to find $25,000 worth of the gem.

That summer in late June, Collins’ brother, Troy Collins, said he travelled from Muscle Shoals, Al. where he lived to West Palm Beach, Fl. for a family reunion. While he was staying with his brother, Caffey came over to his house.

Kirk Mitchell is a general assignment reporter at The Denver Post who focuses on criminal justice stories. He began working at the newspaper in 1998, after writing for newspapers in Mesa, Ariz., and Twin Falls, Idaho, and The Associated Press in Salt Lake City. Mitchell first started writing the Cold Case blog in Fall 2007, in part because Colorado has more than 1,400 unsolved homicides.